Tag Archives: Humor Father’s Day Card.

Out of the nest… almost!

Her’s a new cartoon in this series about young adults living on their own. I have reached this time in my life when young people all around me are leaving their house to go live in their own apartment. This is so exciting for them. Friends, nieces, nephews, even my own kids! And parents are left to deal with the empty nest syndrome, hoping their kids would call more often…

A comic strip for Father’s Day.

In my office, next to my drawing table, I keep a Father’s Day card that my children and I gave to Matt 20 years ago. I keep it as a reminder that I have liked humor cartoons for quite a while.

Father’s Day card and comic strip.

But this morning, I looked at it differently and I saw a lot more. I saw a time capsule. From my past…

20 years ago, I was still a professor at University of Montreal. Class was over in June but I spent my days working in the phonetics lab with my research assistants and my graduate students. With two young children at home, and a full time job, I didn’t have much time to read comic books. But I was dreaming about writing them one day. Thomas and Miriam sat next to me while I put this little comic strip together for their dad.

20 years ago the children were tiny but I realize how well the photographs captured their personalities. Thomas, keen and cheerful, was always ready for a new adventure, always smiling and laughing. A very social kid, he is trying to make his sister look at the camera so she can smile with him and be part of this family picture for dad. Miriam is, as always calm and reflective, a little bit wary of unfamiliar places. She doesn’t understand what we’re all trying to do in this tiny place, all sitting on one uncomfortable stool. She’s certainly not convinced that this adventure deserves a smile… yet.

The card also reflects our family’s bilingual culture. Thomas chose the card. He wanted an English one for his father but I wrote the texts in French. I translated them in the picture here but you can see the original handwritten ones on the French post.